


God is Not Dead, Nor Doth He Sleep

by cordeliadelayne



Series: An Angel's Contract [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Bargaining, Christmas, F/M, Kissing, Sex, castiel plots, ruby plots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-08-17 09:21:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8138854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cordeliadelayne/pseuds/cordeliadelayne
Summary: Castiel has to convince Sam, Dean, and even Ruby, that the fight is still worth fighting.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for aoibhe who gave the prompt “Birth of the Lord”. Much thanks to innerslytherin for information on [“I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day,”](http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/h/iheardtb.htm) from which the title is taken. 
> 
> Set in season four. Originally posted to Livejournal in 2009.

It was Christmas Eve and the church was packed. Seemingly dutiful worshippers knelt in prayer. Candles wafted in the breeze let in through gaps in the ancient stone. And an angel and a demon whispered in the shadows.

“What are you going to do?” Ruby asked. Or at least she tried to. It was a little hard to speak when an angel of the lord was holding you up by your neck. But Castiel seemed to understand.

“I’m far more interested in what the Winchesters are going to do”. He turned to look out at the congregation – so ordinary looking if you didn’t know the truth. He could easily make out the one with Demon Blood, kneeling to one side, but he couldn’t spot Dean anywhere.

Ruby tried to shrug but that was proving quite difficult. Never mind the fact that she was getting less afraid of Castiel’s grip and more turned on by it every second. She was discovering a hitherto unexplored kink for getting pushed up against walls. Which was probably just as well, considering.

Castiel’s eyes narrowed and something, not quite disgust, but close enough, flittered across his features.

“I have him,” Uriel’s voice rumbled across the room and a few of the parishioners on the back row dared to shush him. He took a step forward but Castiel shook his head.

“Watch him,” Castiel said and Uriel turned to go. “But don’t harm him.” Uriel just smirked and moved off. Castiel had some faith that he would do as he was told this time, so he turned his attention back to Ruby.

“What are you doing, demon?”

Ruby merely glared at him, then down at the hand still gripped tight around her throat. With an almost perfectly human expression of annoyance he released her and she fell hard upon the stone floor.

“I asked you a question.” Castiel loomed above her and hesitatingly she stood up, keeping her back against the wall. She and the Winchesters had already scoped out the layout of the church and she was well aware that there was no way out except through the angel. And she didn’t have that much of a death wish.

“What’s it worth?” she asked, pulling her hair back so it fell down and around her shoulders.

The angel’s expression veered from annoyed to bemused. “What is what worth?”

“My co-operation”.

Castiel looked around. No one was looking in their direction and he knew he could trust Uriel to deal with the Winchesters.

“Far more than you can afford to give,” he whispered quietly into the shell of her ear. And before the frown on her face had even finished forming he took her hand in his and closed his eyes.

When he opened them they were outside in a desert with no signs of life anywhere, save for a woman on a donkey a little way in the distance.

“Where the hell are we?” Ruby demanded, pulling her hand away from the angel’s. “What did you do?”

“I thought it time you showed me a little respect, Demon,” Castiel growled. Ruby looked down at the sand and could just make out the shadow of his wings looming over her. She knew it should have been beautiful, but all she felt inside was cold and empty.

“Respect? Why should I?” she asked, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. Truth be told, angels scared the crap out of her, but she wasn’t about to let one of them in on that secret.

“I am a Servant of God,” he told her, exasperated. He was beginning to realise that the fight against Lilith was not the only one they must wage now they were back on earth.

Ruby shrugged and turned her back on him. Instead she scanned the horizon as Castiel tried to think. Uriel would have struck her down, but that was not his way; if awe did not work, perhaps reason would. And if not reasoning, then bargaining.

“That’s Mary.”

“Mary?” Ruby asked, turning back to the angel. “Mary who – oh.” Her mouth dropped open in surprise. Since when had angels been able to travel back in time? “Take me back,” she finally said. Her eyes darted around as if she were afraid what else the angel might spring on her.

Castiel studied her closely, and then did as she asked.

But he didn’t take her back to the church – he could sense that the Winchesters had enough to deal with fighting the zombie congregation. And he still needed to talk to Ruby. Instead he’d taken her back to a cheap motel on the rundown side of town. Which wasn’t all that different from the good part of town.

“Was that really the Virgin Mary?” Ruby asked.

“Why would I lie?”

Ruby shrugged and folded her arms across her chest. “Who knows why angels do anything.”

“It was.”

Ruby seemed to consider it, then she slumped onto the armchair in the corner. Castiel was perfectly happy to wait and stare her out, until she started to bristle at his gaze.

“A picture lasts longer.”

Castiel’s brow furrowed.

“What?” she snapped.

“What are you doing, Ruby?” Castiel moved towards her and then sat on the edge of the bed, his eyes never leaving hers. “I do not believe for a moment that you are helping the Winchesters out of the goodness of your black heart. Indeed, your insistence that Sam use his demonic powers would indicate the opposite.”

It was the longest speech Ruby had yet heard the angel make and it had a softly hypnotic effect on her. She answered without thinking.

“If Lilith captures me again I can say I was trying to help her and she’d have to believe me.” Her expression morphed into a scowl. “You did some angel mojo on me, didn’t you?”

Castiel tilted his head in her direction. Annoyed, she stood up abruptly and stomped over to him.

“Take me back. Now.”

Castiel merely turned his head to look up at her, amusement evident. “Are you making demands, witch?”

The hint of the angel’s anger manifesting itself as lengthened shadows throughout the room had Ruby’s eyes turning black in a second. She could _feel_ his power wrap itself around her and it nearly squeezed all the breath from her body. His vessel had been well chosen – it had been far too easy for her to forget just how dangerous a creature he really was, especially for her kind.

“I’m sorry,” she said quickly, and stepped back. But Castiel’s tight grip on her wrist stopped her short.

“Do you know what tomorrow is?”

“…Christmas?”

“And do you know why humans celebrate it?”

“Birth of Jesus?” she asked again. She couldn’t help feeling like she was a contestant on a game show – _Who Wants To Be a Bible Freak?_ maybe.

Castiel’s lips twitched. “Nominally yes. Although they have the date wrong…not to mention most of the story. But fundamentally it is His birth they remember. Do you know why?” He stroked his thumb over the pulse point in her wrist and she had to struggle to concentrate.

“I don’t…I don’t know.”

Castiel kept up the pressure on her wrist. “Sacrifice. Our Father gave up his only Son to mortal flesh to save the world. It was a moment that changed the fate of humanity.”

“Didn’t exactly do much good though, did it? He still ended up dead,” Ruby scoffed. “And we’re not exactly _saved_ either, are we?”

Castiel’s eyes burned bright and he opened his legs wide, pulling her close to him. “His Birth and Death were foretold. There is nothing that Lucifer hates more than someone who willingly gives in to their Fate.” His gaze raked over Ruby’s body. “He prefers those who lie and cheat, especially those who have managed to trick their way out of Hell.”

“I’ve never even met him,” Ruby said. She tried to escape Castiel’s grip, but his hold over her seemed effortless.

Castiel ignored her. “What are you prepared to sacrifice, demon?”

Ruby frowned. She didn’t like where this conversation was going.

“Nothing. If I can help it.”

“And if you can’t?”

Ruby tugged a little at her wrist, even though she knew it would be futile. If he wanted to send her back to Hell there would be nothing she could do about it.

And she’d do anything not to go back.

“What do you want me to do?”

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sam and Dean sank down next to each other on the floor of the church. Remains of the Living Dead were scattered all about them but Uriel, who’d sneered at them but proven useful all the same, had assured them they were really dead, right before he’d vanished into thin air.

“I really hate it when they do that,” Dean muttered. Sam nodded his agreement, too tired to talk.

The echo of footsteps had them on the alert and they grabbed at their makeshift weapons, keeping them trained on their visitor as they stood up, even after they recognised her as Ruby.

“And where the hell were you?” Dean asked. Proving herself useful once didn’t mean she was to be trusted, in Dean’s book.

“Sunday school,” she replied. Dean raised an eyebrow and tilted his head at Sam. His expression said “talk to your girlfriend” clearer than words could have done and Sam pulled an annoyed face. But he took a step towards her anyway.

“Sunday school?”

Ruby stopped a little ways from them, clearly pissed that they hadn’t dropped their weapons. “Castiel was giving me a Bible lesson.”

“Castiel?” Dean asked, perking up. “He was here?” He looked around the church for any sign of the angel.

“He took me to a motel.”

Dean’s eyes widened. “Did you and he..?” He waved an arm in all-encompassing gesture.

“ _Please._ ” “Dean!” Ruby and Sam said at the same time.

“What?” Dean asked as innocently as possible. Ruby and Sam both opened their mouths and then shut them just as quickly as they tracked something behind Dean’s left shoulder. “He’s standing right there, isn’t he?” Dean shook his head and turned around to see the angel at the front of the church, staring at him curiously. Not that that was anything new.

“Though not strictly forbidden for an angel to have sex whilst on Earth, I think doing so with a demon would push even the most tolerant of the Archangel’s too far.” Castiel’s voice, whilst calm, held an undercurrent of menace that even Dean didn’t feel like messing with tonight.

“Okay. So, what _were_ you two doing?”

“Discussing the Birth of Jesus. It is, for all intents and purposes, his birthday tomorrow.” His eyes drifted to a sculpture of the Baby Jesus in Mary’s arms and then back again.

Dean scoffed incredulously. “You’re kidding me?”

Castiel’s eyes narrowed and he started to walk towards Dean in measured steps. “God gave up his Son to experience all the hurt and pain and confusion of being trapped in mortal flesh. The one thing he cared for most and He gave Him to two humans to care for and love. He trusted _humans_ with that which was most precious to him. Is not his faith in you, in all of you, something which should be celebrated?”

Dean found he couldn’t look directly at Castiel when he was being so earnest and looked over to Sam instead. Unsurprisingly Sam seemed to be eating it all up and if he still had doubts about the angels, it was clear his faith in Castiel had at least been restored.

“I’ve never thought about it like that before,” Sam whispered. Castiel smiled at him. Dean rolled his eyes. Ruby just looked bored.

“That so many have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas only lends strength to the demons.”

“Wasn’t Jesus actually born in January?” Dean asked.

Castiel’s smile grew wider and was starting to freak Dean out a little. “Sometimes faith is more important than facts, Dean.”

Dean scoffed. “Yeah, tell that to them.” He pointed at the bodies lying on the ground.

Castiel looked up to the ceiling and then tilted his head.

“Angel radio?” Dean asked his brother. Sam flapped an arm at him to signal him to be quiet. Dean just shook his head, resigned.

“Christmas is traditionally a time of miracles,” Castiel told them. He looked back down and his eyes seemed brighter than they had before. “So be it.” He held out his arms and a wave of tranquillity seemed to flow over them all, including the bodies that now began to vanish in flashes of bright light.

“What did you do?” Dean asked once it seemed that Castiel had finished.

“Gave them peace,” Castiel replied. He turned his eyes once more to Dean. “You must stop the Seals from breaking, Dean. Nothing else matters. All of us have sacrifices to make before the end, but like all sacrifices made for our Father, the rewards will be worth it”.

Dean swallowed hard as Castiel stepped into his personal space, and then some. “Don’t you think my family have made enough sacrifices?”

Castiel’s expression softened. “You are not alone, Dean. He is always with you, whether you choose to believe in Him or not. And I will do all I can.” The clock on the church tower began to chime midnight. “Merry Christmas, Dean. Sam….Ruby.”

Sam said, “Merry Christmas”, once it was clear that Dean was too deep in thought to answer himself.

“I must go,” Castiel told them. “There is much work that needs to be done this night.”

“You said we all have sacrifices to make?” Dean asked before Castiel vanished. Castiel nodded. “Even you?”

Castiel glanced over at Ruby who just smiled knowingly. “Even me,” Castiel replied, and then he was gone.

**Half an Hour Earlier**

“What do you want me to do?”

Castiel released his grip on Ruby and was gratified when she didn’t move away from him. She may not have realised it, but she was just as dangerous a foe for him as he was to her. This War was about more than simply fighting battles and outward strength. None of the Hunters or their allies could truly comprehend the darkness of the days ahead.

“I need you to convince Lilith that you are still loyal to her. That now you have the Winchester’s trust, you are going to report to her.”

Ruby’s expression faltered somewhere between horror and scepticism. “And if she doesn’t believe me?”

“Be convincing.”

Ruby shook her head. “I can’t…”

“Would you prefer to go to Hell?” He lifted up his hand. “It would only take a moment.”

Ruby gulped. “What do I get out of it?”

Castiel regarded her with interest. “Other than the freedom to walk on the earth unmolested by my brethren? Unless, of course, it is required to maintain the deception.” He paused until she nodded sourly. “What do you want?”

Ruby hesitated. She had no reason to believe that Castiel would actually keep his word, but then she had no reason to doubt him either. Apart from the whole angels hating demons thing, which he seemed to bypass whenever it suited him. And surely an angel’s word was worth more than hers? “Redemption?” she asked softly, half afraid that the angel would simply laugh at her. Instead he looked almost kindly upon her.

“Granted. If you do as you are told. What else?”

Ruby gaped at him, feeling light-headed. “Really?” Castiel just stared at her. “Right. Okay, let me think a minute.” Convincing Lilith probably wouldn’t be _that_ hard, after all she’d been laying the groundwork for months, just in case. It would mean deceiving Sam and Dean too, but she wasn’t really bothered about that – it wasn’t as if they kept her in the loop either.

But what could she ask for from a bona fide angel of the lord? It had to be something she couldn’t get ordinarily. Something that would lend her protection that she wouldn’t have without it. She thought back to the last time she’d been in need of protection and then smiled. She had the perfect thing.

Castiel had been watching her warily ever since she began smiling to herself and his expression did not falter as she lowered herself to sit on his legs.

“You,” Ruby said. Castiel blinked and looked more human than Ruby had ever seen him. “I want, you.” And then she leaned forward and kissed him.

Castiel did not respond at first. For one thing although he was familiar with the mechanics of the process, he had never done so whilst inhabiting this vessel before. Before he allowed her to continue though he put his hands on her arms and firmly pushed her back until he could look her in the eyes.

“You are sure this is what you want? You will not be able to change your mind.”

“I’m sure.”

“I am an angel, Ruby. I do not feel the way human’s feel.”

“I know,” Ruby said, even though she didn’t. “I’ve made my choice.”

Castiel nodded. “Very well.” And then he pulled her into a rough kiss that she returned eagerly.

She started to move forward and to pull at Castiel’s trousers but he surprised her, and amongst the sound of flittering wings she found herself naked and lying on her back on the bed. Castiel, equally naked, loomed above her and for the first time she actually questioned what she was doing. But then Castiel was pushing inside of her – no warning, no preparation, and amazingly no pain – and she couldn’t bring herself to care about anything except the way he seemed to instinctively know how her body would respond to even the slightest of his touches.

“Oh, yes, there,” she gasped as he rammed into her, his hands coming up to squeeze her breasts, his thumb flicking at her nipples only to be followed by his tongue and teeth.

She bucked up into his touch and spread her legs wider, angling her heels onto his back. She growled as he settled as deep inside of her as he could.

He moved up to her neck and started nibbling at her throat, gently moving her hair out of the way until it fanned behind her on the pillow. She moved her arms to his back, her nails digging into him as he kept on pounding into her. But if anything that seemed to spur him on and she couldn’t help but wonder if angels were all that different from humans after all.

Her orgasm took her by surprise, her whole body seeming to burn as she screamed, only for Castiel to silence her with a bruising kiss. And still he kept on moving, his body pressing into and around her until she wasn’t sure she was going to be able to stand it for much longer.

But then she was coming again as Castiel came too, throwing his head back and grunting his own release even as the pleasure/pain of her own body’s response had her trembling underneath him.

She sighed contentedly and tried to pull Castiel close to her but he resisted and the next thing she knew they were standing at the back of the church they’d been in before, fully dressed.

“So, no snuggling?” she asked, trying to keep the hurt out of her voice.

Castiel’s expression was perfectly blank. “I must speak to the Winchesters.”

“Right,” Ruby said. “So, till next time?”

Castiel’s eyes travelled down her body and then up again. She stuck her chin out defiantly, but inside she felt as small and insignificant as an insect that had just been squashed against a windscreen.

“A contract once entered into, must be honoured,” he told her, before turning his back on her and disappearing into the church.

Reluctantly she headed in the direction of Sam and Dean who she could just make out sitting on the floor. Maybe agreeing to be Heaven’s pawn hadn’t been the smartest move she’d ever made. But as the Winchesters turned equally distrustful eyes on her she straightened her shoulders and held her head up. _Well, she’d show them._

In the shadows, an angel’s faith burned bright.


End file.
